Hydrocarbon-lighting device



(No Model.)

F. A. CODY. HYDROUARBON LIGHTING DEVICE.

No. 508,812. Patented-Nov. 14, 18,93.

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m5 NATIONAL LIYNOGRAPHINE COMPANY vusuma'rou. u. c, v

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. CODY, OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

-HYDROCARBON-LIGHTING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 508,812, dated November 14, 1893.

Applicationfiled January 28,1893. Serial No. 460,105. (No model.)

'of' Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hydrocarbon-Lighting Devices; and I do hereby declare the fol-.

lowing to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of hy-' drocarbon lighting devices in which a reservoir is located at the level of the lamps, and pipes run down from the reservoir then across a space, as beneath a floor, then up to lamps to supply them with'oil; the lamps being of the Argand style without any enlargement as a re ceptacle for oil around the wick.

The objects of the invention are first,to provide means for the escape of air from the supply pipe soas to prevent Spurting and sputtering of the flame, and the overflow of oil; second, to regulate the delivery of oil from the primary reservoir to the secondary reservoir or leveling tank so as to maintain the oil in the latter at an even head or level and insure a full and even supply to the lamps and an unvaryin'g light; third, to provide means for removably securing a gallery at the top of the wick tube, andfor supporting the wick in the absence of the gallery; fourth, to prevent wick trimmings and other dirt from gathering in the gallery; fifth, to pre- Vent wind from blowing directly into the gal-r lery and causing the lamp to smoke or go out; sixth, to give proper direction to the many little currents of air admitted through the flame-spreader so that the same'm'ay join and construction and combination of parts formroom with a general view of a hydrocarbon lighting device showing a portion of my invention. Fig. 2, represents a vertical section of one of my lamps. Fig. 3, shows inside ele- 12 is a distributing tank located on a level with the lamp 13 andconnected therewith by vmeans of a distributing pipe 14. As the two vertical portions of the pipe 14 are of nearly equal height there is very little pressure upon the oil contained in them and bubbles of air are likely to gather in-the oil, sometimes run ning together and forming so large a bubble as to rise rapidly carrying all the oil above it suddenly to the lamp and causing thesame' to overflow, because this lamp in its body portion 15 is of annular form just large enough to receive the wick 16 and its carrier 17 ,andit has no open space above the oil so that it will not hold aspoonful of oil more than is required to saturate the wick. V 'lhereforeto accommow date any such sudden rise of the oil and to permit the bubbles of ,air to escape I provide a sentry chamber 18 on the pipe 14 close to the lamp and rising somewhat above the level ofthe lamp-burner. This sentry chamber is much larger than'theinterior of the pipe 14,

and it is capable of holding any amount of oil which could be brought upby a single bubble. The chamberbeing provided with asmall vent hole 19, the oil will risemore freely in it than in the lamp closed by the wick, and a bubble of air escaping. from under the oil in the -of y the tank 12, and is provided with a valve 21 having a stem 22 extending down into the tank to be engaged by the lever arm 23 of a float 24 which is pivoted at 25 to ap'ortion of the chamber and adapted to float upon oil when it rises within the chamber.

26 is a dotted line showing the level of the lamp-burner above which level the oil in the tank should not be allowed to rise, and the float 24 is so located in the tank that when the oil being consumed, descends a little below this level the latter end of the float rises and acting upon the stem 22 opens the valve 21 and permits more oil to flow from the reservoir into the tank and when the oil rises in the tank to very near the level of the line 26 the float being raised thereby lowers its lever end and permits the valve 21 to close, thus stopping oif the supply of oil. It will thus be seen that this device is perfectly automatic in supplying oil to the lamp and in maintaining it-at the proper level to fully supply the wick, and yet to never overflow either from.

. an over supply of oil in the tank, or from air accumulating in the pipe.

The lamp body consists of an outer tube 15 and an inner tube 27, joined and closed at' their lower ends leaving between them space for a tubular wick 16, and a tubular wick raiser 17. This raiser is made of perforated sheet metal,and is a toothedpinion journaled in the body 15 to engage its teeth with any vertical line of holes in the perforated raiser, and provided with any suitable handle 31 exterior to the body 15, whereby the pinion may be rotated to traverse the holder and the wick contained therein, up and down for the purpose first, of inserting the wick into the body, and second, of raising the wick when its upper end is consumed in serv-v ice. The lower end of the wick raiser terminates at an even edge between horizontal lines of perforations, while the upper edge is formed into-teeth by being cut centrally on ahorizontal line of perforations, and these teeth are bent inward a little in order to engage the wick and to push it upward and yet to permit the wick to be freely drawn up within the raiser. The perforations in the raiser are made in lineshorizontallyfor the purposeof permitting it to be formed with its smooth edge at one end and the toothed edge at the other end as before described and the perforations are also located in vertical lines at equal distances apart so that any or every vertical line of holes is adapted to be engaged by the pinion.- wheel, so that no pains need be taken in inserting the raiser within the body because the instant the raiser reaches the pinion and the pinion is worked theteeth of the pinion will find a line of holes and travel in them.

32 represents a spider or bracket to the arms of which the body of the lamp is secured, and to the lower end of which the base cup 33 is screwed.

34 is the supply tube communicating between the sentry chamber 18 and the body of the lamp by passing up centrally through the spider 3-2 and then turningsidewise into the lamp body through the inner tube 27 to which it is permanently joined.

The base cup 33 is perforated through the center of its bottom and threaded at this perforation to screw upon the spider, and the tube. 34 passing up centrally through the spider permits the cup to be unscrewed so that trimmings from the wick which fall. down through the spider into the cup may be shaken out through the perforation in the bottom of the cup around thetube 34 which is much smaller than the said perforation. The supply tube 34 passing up through the cup prevents the cup being displaced and lost and by entering through the inner wall of the lamp instead of through its outside it leaves the lamp more symmetrical and ornamental in finish. I extend the bodyportion 15 to the full height of the inner tube 27 and around this body portion I fit a gallery made of two pieces of sheet metal, the lower portion 35 being stamped into the form of the frustum of a cone in the .region' 36, with its base upward, and its lower edge terminating in a cylindrical sleeve 37, fitted to slide closely upon the body 15; and a cover shaped into, the form of the frustum of a cone in the region 38, its base being downward. Thence this cover extends outward in the form of aflange 39 to serve as a base upon which the chimney may stand, and it is provided with the usual chimney holders 41. At the outer edge of the flange 39 the cover of a gallery is bent downward and headed at.42 over the edge of the lower portion of the gallery. The upper and lower portions beaded together at their outer edges and provided with the chimney holders 41 constitute the whole of the gallery. The cylindrical portion 37 and the upper edge of the portion 38 both fit closely yet removably upon the body 15. The lower portion ofthe gallery in the region 36 and. the upper portion in the region 38 are perforated through, all over the surface of each, thus permitting air to enter within the chimney 40 to supply the flame on its outer side. The top portion of the gallery slants conically away from the edge of the wick tube and extends entirelyover the lower portion of' the gallery to preventthe gallery from being filled with wick trimmings. As the chimney 40 must necessarily be removed when the lamp is trimmed the burned edges of the wick on being scraped outward over the side 15 of the lamp will slide down the incline 38 and 0E from the edge. of the chimney base 39, thus preventing the accumulation which in some lamps smokes and causes a foul smell as soon as it becomes heated after each trimming of the lamp. To insure the entire discharge of this foul trash I make the cover of thegallery in one piece without grooves in its upper face from the upper edge of the region 38 to the bead 42. The air drawn in through the IIO ' heat suitable to give apure white light. The

. gallery may be taken as a single piece off lamp is to be located in a hallway'or other;

locality where it is subjected to a strong. current of air the shield is provided to preventthe current of air fromstrikingforcibly against the openings in the region 36 of the gallery, thus guarding" against pufling and smoking of the blaze which would otherwise be caused by wind; W

46 represents-a flame spreader made in cylindrioal form along its body portion 47, and provided with a loose flange 48 which fits freely within the tube 27,-and with fingers 49 near its lower end extending outward and alsofitting freely within the tube 27.

50isia wire cross-bar within the tube 27 as a:

support upon'which the flame spreader stands.

. The flange 48 is perforated vertically all over its surface to permit an upward draft of air concave curve 52, and the top of the head is between the body 47 of the flame spreader and the tube 27 of the lamp body. The head of the flame spreader is of'peculiar form which is the result of much study and experiment. It has a square shoulder'or outward extending flange 51 whose transverse diameter is about equal to the diameter of the tube 27,

and the spreader islocated with this flange about three-eighths of an inch above the edge of the burner tubes 15, 27 From the edge of the flange 51 the sides of the headha've a deeply concaved. The head is perforated all around its sides andits concave form at the sides and top produces a peculiar eflect as follows: The current of airpassingup between the tubes 47 and 27 is deflected outward 'by the flange 51 as shown by dotted lines 54, and impinging against the flame 43 p spreads it as shown.

A little higher up the air becomes sufficiently heated to join with and feed the flame. The air drawn up within the tube 47 is deflected outward by the concave top 53 so that it passes through the side of the head in a direction to aid upward draft of the flame and soon joinswith it as shown in dotted lines 55. If the top. of the head were flat at 53, and the sides were vertical at 52 the air would be driven horizontally across the current 54 and would cool off that current at the very point where it should be-- come hot enough to join with the blaze. I The sides 52 being concave stand at a considerable distance from the blaze whereby the little jets of air from the said sides lose some thing of their individual force and have room to becomeheated -before striking the blaze,

so that very perfect combustion'and' a steady white light are the result. r

Having thus fully described myinvention, 1

by Letters Patent, is the following: 1. The combination in a hydrocarbon lighting device of a fixed lamp ;:an oil distributing tank locatedabout .at the level of the lamp and open at the top; a pipe descending from the tank and rising to the lamp andcommunicating between the tank and lamp, and a sentrychamber connected withthe'pipe on.-

-what I believe to be new, and desire to secure the rising portion thereof near the lamp and having a vent above the level of. thelamp substantially as described, whereby air rising in the pipe toward the lamp may be arrested and discharged. 7

2. The combination in a hydrocarbon lights ing device of a lampbody having an opening up through it; a spider perforated-vertically through and screw-threadedwupon its body, and connected byits arms withthe lamp body; a cup located beneath the opening in the lamp and screw-threaded removably upon the spiderbody; and a supply pipe passing up through the spider and cup to the lamp body; substantially as described. a

In testimony whereof I afiixmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses:

E. M. DAWSON, M. O. HILLYARD.

FREDERICK A. ooDY; 

